Mobile Marketing on the Rise

The idea that mobile phones can reveal the location of potential customers as well as something about what they are doing has long been a dream of marketers. But we are edging closer and closer to such techniques as location based marketing and context aware marketing. The former identifies the location of an individual who perhaps may be walking by a boutique having a sale on certain items. A text message is sent to that person;s phone about the sale. In context aware marketing, the phone may pick up some sounds indicating that the person is at a trade show on technology. They could then get a message about a special offering at that show. Check out Facebook's initiative here.

The question, is whether this is a positive development in marketing or whether it is an intrusion on privacy. What do you think?